Posts Tagged ‘recipes’
Cooking Confidants Help Loulies Catch Fire
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, May 29th, 2009
By Christina Lee
Suzanne and Bettina (Courtesy of Bettina Stern)
If Martha Stewart is the PTA mom who scoots over everyone’s bake-sale brownies so she can showcase her genoise cake with chocolate-Armagnac glaze, the Loulies ladies are the trusted friends always passing along easy, yummy recipes and helpful kitchen tricks.
Bettina Stern and Suzanne Simon foster the welcoming feel of www.Loulies.com—a mini-media empire garnering plenty of daily visitors (the site’s growing popularity prompted the two former publishing editors to focus on Loulies full time) and over a thousand e-newsletter subscribers.
The Loulies founders, both transplants to Washington, D.C., met at a cocktail party in Virginia. Stern later invited Simon to her new cookbook club where their friendship—along with their reputation as “mavens of information”—grew.
“People always asked, ‘What do I make for a dinner party? How do you use this ingredient?’” Simon says. “We started the website to make it easier to pass on tips to others who could use them in their own kitchens.”
Loulies will soon make it easier for home cooks to share their own tips and finds as the website evolves into a more interactive community. “We would love it if people began to share what they were finding,” Simon says. “It’s nice to know what’s good out there.”
Cookbook Club 101
Ready to cook by consensus? Here are some insider tips for making your meetings a hit:
Stick with Six. You don’t want too many cooks in the kitchen, and even smaller homes usually have tables that seat six.
Mix Things Up. Try not to include just a core group of friends. Expand your social circle to learn how different people use their kitchens.
Explore Away. Use any cookbook that looks interesting. Track down out-of-print books that catch your eye, or even cook from food magazines or blogs.
Stay Loose. It’s useful to divvy up the courses (appetizer, salad, dessert, etc.), but even if two people show up with the same dish, they’ll likely translate it in different, interesting ways.
Get Creative. Recipes are a great guide, but don’t be afraid to try your own interpretations.
(May 2009)
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, May 29th, 2009
By Warren Rojas
“My Mama Made That: Virginia Favorites” Junior League of Hampton Roads. Favorite Recipes Press, 208 pgs., $29.95.
Home cooks can now turn every day into Mother’s Day by simply thumbing though “My Mama Made That,” a treasure trove of regional dishes and motherly advice cobbled together by the Junior League of Hampton Roads.
The nostalgic cookbook is peppered throughout with “mamaisms” ranging from the practical (microwave a lemon for 15 seconds before squeezing, and you can double the amount of juice you get; when you can’t cook, remember the Holy Trinity of Southern cooking—onions, butter and bacon. Add enough of these, and anything will taste good) to the profound (character is what you are; reputation is what you try to make people think you are)—as well as Tidewater-specific anecdotes (I can still remember her [Mama] telling me that any Southern lady should know how to bait her own hook and clean a crab, but a true Southern gentleman should make sure she never had to do it).
Noteworthy recipes include: cheesy ham-and-grits souffle, strawberry-champagne soup contributed by Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, cucumber-and-onion salad contributed by Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant and Bakery in Staunton, scallop-hoppin’ John, sweet apple meatloaf and trailer-park bread pudding that utilizes Krispy Kreme donuts as the base. The book also proposes various special-events (first day of school, holiday open house, seafood picnic) and traditional holiday menus.
To order online, please visit: www.jlhr.org.
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, March 6th, 2009
Thought I’d have some fun this Friday and compose a dream menu from all the mouthwatering food pics posted all around the web this week.
Breakfast: crab meat and eggs — I can almost taste the sweet crab and fluffy eggs in my mind. Though I’d probably swap out the Chinese wine for some mirin (added sweetness should cut through the ginger a bit and bolster the crab).
(Photo: seasaltwithfood. Full recipe here.)
Lunch: pasta e fagioli — turkey sausage + Tuscan white beans + baby spinach = molto bene in my book.
(Photo: For the Love of Cooking. Full recipe here.)
Dinner: pork cheek ragout — Do I even need to make a case for this?
(Photo: Marc Matsumoto. Full recipe here.)
Dessert: Reese’s Pieces-Nutella beaver tail — There’s no recipe, but damn if I’m not going to have a blast experimenting with this Canadian import.
(Photo: janello)
Ahh well, guess it’s time to rejoin the real world and get started on my actual dining assignments for the day…
–Warren Rojas
Eat a Pac-Man cookie while watching old Buffy eps online
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
Web Wednesday means there are websites to be had. So let’s get to it with a link that combines video-game nerditude and sugary wares. Snack or Die has multitudes of recipes for baked goods that span the gamer gamut, from “Tetris PopTarts” and “Burgertime Cookie Burgers” to “Half-Life Biscuits” and “Wii Remote Banana Bars.” Nintendo and other old-school game franchises are well-represented in this sweet collection – the “Koopa Shell Cookies” and “Goomba Cupcakes” look particularly yummy, and the “Pac-Man Sugar Cookies” are simply classic. Feel free to indulge – just spend a few extra minutes on your “Wii Fit.” (Thanks to Laura, my fellow Tar Heel, for the tip!)
It’s still in private beta testing, but JamLegend looks like it could be the next big online thing for “Guitar Hero” lovers and “Rock Band” fans. In addition to the rhythmic gaming that will no doubt suck hours away from your free time, the site allows for unlimited music coming in from any and all up-and-coming artists (free promotion!), social networking that the kids love and lots of multiplayer features, so you can get your hiney handed to you from some fast-fingered 5-year-old halfway across the country. Sign up now to get in line for the beta testing, and check out the trailer here. (Tip of the hat to Warren for the scoop!)
Another site that’s in beta mode is The WB’s video-on-demand site. I admit, the old WB and the new CW had/have some of my favorite shows on TV, and this site will feature many full episodes from series such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Smallville,” “Gilmore Girls,” “The O.C.,” “Friends” and “One Tree Hill” (true confession: I got hooked on the first season of “OTH” one night, watched nine straight hours and was never the same again). Even better, there are also plans for original content from TV gurus such as McG and Josh Schwartz as well as a number of other web-only shows – a sorority mystery, a rock-club soap opera, an unscripted series about a big-budget high school musical and more – as well as a Facebook application to bring the WB to your own neck of cyber-society. (Props to Warren yet again!)
Photojojo is a photographer’s dream, with tips, how-to sections and scads of projects. One of those is Project 365. The gist is you take a picture every day for a whole year, even when you don’t feel like it, and then look back and see the resulting photo album. You’ll learn a lot about yourself, and improve your photography skills to boot! The site also hosts the very neat Photo Time Capsule where it synchs your email and Flickr accounts, and twice a month will send you photos from a year ago in an email. (That’s a hat trick for Warren!)
If you’ve got a great website to share with NoVa Pop Nation, send the link to novapoppin@gmail.com.